If someone enjoys high fantasy epics I’m sure they will rate this novel higher since it’s not poorly written, it just hit several of my nerves. I bet Game of Thrones fans will be very pleased.
Based in a historical China (or somewhere, it’s a little vague but I though the Chinese emperors lived in the Hidden City so that became my mental image) the societal structure is very rigid and imbalanced, violence is casual, children are forced into adult situations… all historically common and reasonable, so not my favorite time period. The story builds slowly, characters develop slowly, all fine and good, but then, “to be continued.” That’s one of my biggest series pet peeves.
On the plus side, the dragon is an intriguing creature and the magic and religion surrounding her has great potential. There are other engaging characters, an apprentice-prisoner-slave connected to the dragon, a young woman attached to the fleeing emperor, a mountain miner touched by the power of jade and the bandit captivated by him. There are a lot of young characters so a mature teen reader would probably like the novel as well. I emphasize mature though, rape and pillage are the companions to piracy, war and banditry.
I wouldn’t recommend this for a reader's first foray into high fantasy (see Weis and Hickman for that) but a fan getting a little bored with the usual medieval-ish Europe might like a change of scenery.
By Daniel Fox
2 stars
If someone enjoys high fantasy epics I’m sure they will rate this novel higher since it’s not poorly written, it just hit several of my nerves. I bet Game of Thrones fans will be very pleased.
Based in a historical China (or somewhere, it’s a little vague but I though the Chinese emperors lived in the Hidden City so that became my mental image) the societal structure is very rigid and imbalanced, violence is casual, children are forced into adult situations… all historically common and reasonable, so not my favorite time period. The story builds slowly, characters develop slowly, all fine and good, but then, “to be continued.” That’s one of my biggest series pet peeves.
On the plus side, the dragon is an intriguing creature and the magic and religion surrounding her has great potential. There are other engaging characters, an apprentice-prisoner-slave connected to the dragon, a young woman attached to the fleeing emperor, a mountain miner touched by the power of jade and the bandit captivated by him. There are a lot of young characters so a mature teen reader would probably like the novel as well. I emphasize mature though, rape and pillage are the companions to piracy, war and banditry.
I wouldn’t recommend this for a reader's first foray into high fantasy (see Weis and Hickman for that) but a fan getting a little bored with the usual medieval-ish Europe might like a change of scenery.